Puterbaugh, a substitute teacher, helps with some aspects of Alana’s game and doubles as her academic tutor.

“Jason is my short-game coach,” she said. “He fine-tunes me.”

Alana’s hard work in the classroom resulted in a 3.8 GPA at the end of last year.

“Between golf and everything at home I barely have time to study,” said Alana, who finished tied for sixth in last week’s San Diego Section championships. “I’m always up ’til midnight doing everything. I’m surprised I get it all done.”

Alana also has the support of her Carlsbad teammates, including Shannon Oh, whom Alana has known since they began playing junior golf.

It was Oh who picked Alana up after the Avocado League Tournament when Alana was down after a disappointing finish.

“When I didn’t do as well as I wanted to, I immediately thought ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m failing my mom,’ ” she said.

But the girls talked about it. They laughed and cried.

“We had a real bonding moment,” Alana said. “It was like a best friend bonding moment that you have once every lifetime.”

Alana wants to play golf in college and hopes to earn a scholarship. Hartley has told her if she can maintain her academics, she’ll be turning down Division I rides.

“And if I get lucky I’ll be on the LPGA Tour,” she said. “That’s a huge dream that I’m going to work toward.”

Alana’s mom won’t be there to share in her dream, or to root her on today, but she’ll have Oh, her coaches, and maybe even her dad if he can swing it.